Into the Shadows
by RedDewil
Summary: Just as the title says, this is a story about Korra's journey into the Shadows. Who will she meet? Why is she there? What will happen when she meets her match? Find out, inside.
1. Introduction kinda?

**DISCLAIMER! I DO NOT OWN AVATAR THE LEGEND OF KORRA OR AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER!  
Now with that out of the way, let me just say that I would appreciate any and all feedback you are able to give me and feel free to do so. This short introduction is just a test run for me, since this is my first fanfiction, but I do believe that I have a good story in my head, and I will do my best to present it to you guys. Thanks for reading!**

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Coming out of the Republic City's finest teashop, which was now in flames, were 2 hooded figures.

"Are you sure he's gonna be here?" The taller man spoke.

"Yeah, he just got promoted to detective, he's bound to come. Don't worry so much brother, it's really showing on your face."

Having stated that, the shorter of the brothers , they both heard it. There was the distant sound of police sirens. After sharing a quick nod, the two men quickly hid in the alleyways near the shop, and in a couple of seconds, they were on the rooftop of the old apartment building next to the store. The police arrived in a matter of minutes, and soon enough, people started coming out of their homes to see what the commotion was about.  
"Has anyone seen what happened here?"  
One of the two officers started asking the crowd, while the other closely examined the shop.

"It was the Equalists! I saw them with my own eyes!"

An old man began yelling from the rear of the crowd.

"There were at least twenty of them! No! Thirty!"

He kept his voice raised as he made his way towards the officer.

"And I would have taken them all out if my firebending was as good as it used to be."

After completing his sentence, he proudly crossed his arms. A few instants later, an elderly woman came out behind him and caught him by his ear.

"You're still dreaming dear, you're not even a bender!"

She strained to take him off the streets, apparently not wanting to embarrass herself more.

"Pfft! Of course I'm a bender!"

He took the woman's hand off of him and assumed a stance of some sort. He claimed it was a firebending stance, but it looked more like a drunk zebra monkey. Then he punched upwards as if he was shooting a fireball, but just as the woman said, nothing happened.

"Come along, dear, let's get you inside where you can beat those Equalists and stop bothering these men in doing their jobs."

Grabbing him again, she knew the damage was done, but she didn't really care now anyway. The officer just sighed as the other people laughed.

"Has anyone _actually seen_ what happened?"

The annoyance in his voice was clear to everybody present. Approaching him with a disappointed face was the second officer.

"It's the same as the other two... just a hit and run, no trails of the culprit, and if you ask me, I think it's the same explosive that was used in the bakery and the pawn shop."

It was true. Republic City has been hit three times in the past week. The possibility of these events being unlinked coincidences just hit zero. The police had many suspects, but in the end, they were all proven innocent. The triads were also suspected, but they had absolutely no motive, not to mention that the owners of the shops reported nothing was missing, except for the things that were destroyed in the explosions. Nobody had any idea who might be behind these attacks.

"Well, it's no use to speculate, let the big-shot detectives have their fun."

If the tone of his voice didn't show his dislike towards detectives, his facial expression sure did.

"Haha, I see you are still mad chief Beifong didn't promote you."

The second officer hit a nerve, and he knew it. The angry response was cut short by the sound of a motorcycle approaching. It was the newly promoted detective, Mako. He was already getting sleepy and rubbing his eyes. His expression was saying it all, especially the fact that he didn't like being woken up in the middle of the night. The two brothers were still on the rooftop, observing all that was happening. Smiling, the older brother said:

"Good, he's here."


	2. Chapter 2

After saying that, he gave a hand signal, and the two men disappeared into the night just as mysteriously as they appeared. Mako, on the other hand made his way to the destroyed building and the officers. Realizing that this might be the third strike in the bombing case, he quickly regained his senses and started questioning the officers. 

"Are there any witnesses? Any injured?"

As he was asking, he quickly threw a glance at the now dispersing crowd. Seeing that none of the people were harmed, he let out a relieved sigh. 

"No, sir! And might I add, the explosions look like the work of the Bomber sir!"  
"Kissass."

A quick remark from the still angry officer followed. Mako made his way to the rubble, ignoring the two policemen. After he started climbing over it, the polite officer asked:

"Uh...Sir? What are you doing?"  
"I'm inv-"

As he was about to finish, one of the destroyed bricks that was loose made him slip and fall face-first into the shop.

"Well, this day just can't get better."

He mumbled that to himself as he was getting up from the ground. After cleaning the dust from his clothes, he began looking around. To his surprise, much of the shop remained intact, only the front wall was destroyed by the explosive.

"It's the same as the other two, judging by the reports."

Mako was just appointed to the case by chief Beifong, in fact, she was the one who woke him up. But he was right, this isn't just a series of bombings, this is a series of _identical _bombings. The culprit's M.O. was always the same. The bombs were placed inside the target location and somehow directed only towards the wall closest to the street. No victims and no witnesses...and no motive. At least the police force couldn't think of one.

"Is it there?"

The two siblings were still on the rooftop, watching everything that occured beneath them. 

"Please tell me you didn't forget to leave it..?" 

Older of the two spoke as the younger searched his robe. Halfway through, he stopped and turned to face him. 

"Of course I didn't! Do you think I'm stupid or something? You have absolutely no faith in me, do you?" 

His facial expressions were concealed under his hood, but his brother knew exactly how he felt. Angry and sad that his every move was questioned, like he was still a child. 

"You know I have faith in you Sandashi..." 

He spoke that as he placed a hand on his little brother's shoulder. 

"You maybe do Sariok...but dad surely doesn't." 

Saying that, he got up from the edge of the rooftop and said: 

"Why did dad even send you with me? Because he thinks I'll screw up, that's why." 

He didn't even let Sariok reply, but the elder brother took his chance after Sandashi finished. 

"No, you know very well why he sent me, it's because you can't fight-"  
"And how would you help me? You're not even a bender." 

Sandashi cut him short to make that statement, but his brother continued nevertheless. 

"If it came down to a fight, I would provide you with enough time to run away." 

He said that as seriously as he could. 

"What?! Do you really think I would just leave you behind?" 

Sandashi was shocked to even consider that possibility. 

"You would have to. You are not ready for that fight, and you know it too." 

Continuing with his serious tone, Sariok began walking away from the crime scene as Sandashi followed. 

"I know. That's why I came up with this plan. It's going to work, have faith in me bro." 

Saying that through a smile only made it more believeable

"He's going to find it soon, let's get out of here. He'll come to us." Sandashi added.

Beifong's office, 8 hours after the tea shop was destroyed.  
Very little has changed inside the police building since the Avatar busted her ex-boyfriend's desk. Those two gluttonous "detectives" were demoted to street cops while Mako took their place. There was one more opening for detective position, but the chief was still considering her options. On the streets of Republic City, things very much remained the same. Some petty criminals were around, and so were the triads. Not to forget the Bomber. But apparently, Mako found something, and he was about to present it to Beifong.

"Be quick Mako, I'm very busy. What did you want?"

The strong, silver haired woman was rummaging through some drawers, and after a couple of moments she grunted and moved on to the next drawer, not paying attention to Mako, who was just standing there with a piece of paper in his hand and scratching his head with the other hand.

"Well, chief, I found this inside the tea shop..."

He extended the hand that held the piece of paper and paused, expecting a question. But seeing how the chief was still paying more attention to her search than to him, he continued.

"It's a phone number. On the back it says "Shipment arrives in three days, meeting at midnight at the-" and the rest is torn or burnt in the explosion. I believe that the Bomber dropped it when he was leaving the crime scene."

Mako was sure in what he was saying. He wanted to prove himself as a capable detective and he believed that pursuing this lead was the way to do it.

"And what makes you say that? It could be just a shipment of tea...but then again...who ships tea at midnight?"

"Exactly!"

Mako said excitingly, now finally having Lin's full attention.

"Good find, Mako. I want you to call that number and find out where this meeting is taking place. Be as discrete as possible. This is your case now, keep me updated whenever you find something important."

After giving Mako orders, Lin went back to turning drawers upside-down as Mako left her office feeling really good about having his first case, and as he was exiting, he said:

"You got it chief!"

Grabbing the phone on his new desk, he started dialing the numbers from the paper. Mako was surprisingly excited. He wasn't that excited since the final battle with Unalaq, a couple of months ago. The rush of having a lead was new to him. Even though he knew that this lead might not take him to the Bomber directly, he hoped that it would at least take him to someone or something that would. After dialing the final number, he felt his heart skip a beat as the dialing tone started. Suddenly, a serious voice of an elderly man answered and spoke quickly:

"It's good that you called, I was thinking you would forget. Your brother moved the meeting. It's in an hour at the warehouse number 3, at the docks. And don't worry, all the explosives are here, all 3 crates, just like your two requested. If you're late, we're starting without you. See ya' kid."

Mako was dumbfounded. He had no idea what just happened. Who was the old man talking about? Did he mistake Mako for the Bomber? He mentioned explosives, but that could mean a lot of stuff. And the old man said something about a brother...is the Bomber actually two people, or is it maybe just one of these two brothers? Mako had all these questions, and more on his mind, and he had to find out the answers. That is why he had to get to that meeting quickly.


	3. Chapter 3

**This isn't a long chapter, but it took quite some time (because of my indecisiveness lol) and because I really don't like writing descriptions that much. I wanted to describe the brothers here and give a hint of the backstory, I hope I did a good job. Anyways, enjoy. Reviews and any sort of comments are appreciated :D**

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Republic City harbor, warehouse #3

"You did a good job old man, we'll take it from here."

Next to Sariok was an older gentleman with short silver hair and dressed in a silver coat, the same one who spoke to Mako on the phone just a few short minutes ago. But something was troubling Sariok. He had been checking every last bit of the warehouse since he and Sandashi came back from the city center. His sureness in this plan wasn't very high from the start, mostly because he feared that Mako would involve the Avatar in this. Even though she is the reason they are here, Sandashi still isn't ready for that bout. No, both of them weren't ready for Korra, and that is why this plan had to work.

"Where's your brother?"

The old man spoke. He wasn't a part of their plan, he is just an old friend of their family. An old and distant friend. The brothers sought out his help after they had been sent on their assignment. It's a good thing he agreed, because he was their first and last choice. Seeing the two young men again brought the man the boys from their birth knew as Jarel much happiness. The last time he saw them, they were just little kids, and now they are almost full-grown men. Since Sariok is the older brother, it is natural he is more muscular of the two, while Sandashi's body is more suited for speed and acrobatic movement. They were both born with dark black hair, and they both keep it at shoulder-length. While Sariok keeps his hair swept back, Sandashi lets his fall down naturally. The hair on the back of his head always stands up a little, like he has a constant bed head. Sandashi's face remained close to Jarel's memory,which was one of a goofy kid with a babyface, but Sariok's bone structure changed, giving him his square jaw. But the one thing he could never forget about them is their eyes. They both had bright blue eyes, just like their mother.

"I don't know, probably slacking off somewhere. But he'll be here, don't worry."

This was usual for Sandashi. He was always that type of person who tries not to do any of the work until the last minute, while Sariok always had to give it his best to keep him from skipping practice and other lessons. But Sariok did have a point, because no matter how much he slacks off, in the end, San always does his part of the job.

"You know, it's not too late... you don't have to do this just because he-"

Jarel spoke to Sariok, more pleading than speaking, in a calm and worried tone, but Sariok soon interrupted him.

"We are not doing this because he said so! I know why I am doing this, and so does San."

"Are you sure this is the right way?"

"No, but it's the only way."

Jarel almost begged him not to go through with this plan, but he knew that it would be as useless as firebending during an eclipse. The only thing he could do now to help him and San is to get out of their way and finish playing his part, even if he didn't want to. An awkward silence loomed as Sariok kept making sure that everything is in place, but the silence was broken by the sound of metal grinding against concrete. It was Sandashi.

"He's on his way, get to your position! He'll be here any minute!"

He ran all the way here from Jarel's apartment as soon as he saw Mako on his motorcycle. Free-running practice really does pay off. But even though he was short of breath, he was actually excited, partly because he wished for the Avatar to come barging through those metal doors.

"Yes, let's get this over with."

While his brother... did not share his excitement. He just wanted things done as quickly and as easily as possible. But San kept his excited smile, not letting Sariok ruin this for him.

"You should get out of here old man, while you still can... we don't want to get you involved in this any more than you already are."

It took some strength for Sariok to say that. He knows they won't see Jarel again after this, probably for a long time, and saying goodbye to a person who was like a second father to you for the second time isn't easy.

"Don't worry Jar, we'll come to visit as soon as we can!"

Sandashi forced a wide smile as he spoke. Both he and Jarel had a hard time believing his words.

"If you two ever need anything..."

"We know who to call."

Sariok finished his sentence while steadily looking at the front doors of the warehouse. The tears in Jarel's eyes were hard to hold back. Like rain, they were bound to fall at some point. The back door swung open, and Jarel turned off the lights with a flip of a switch, and thus, his role in this ended. Before he had gone away, he took one last look at the two young men. It was probably the last time he will see them for quite some time. After taking a one last glance, Jarel slipped away through the back door, leaving the brothers to their plan. But as he was leaving, the front door opened.  
It was Mako.


End file.
